Magnar's Landing
Major Geographic Features Magnar's landing is positioned on the fertile coast where the great Mor River ends its journey through the Velsignet valley. Magnar's landing is a "New" city built in old Solandian style (lots of arches, colonnades, minarets, and huge mortarless stone block walls and foundations) with native white limestone and slate roofs. Mostly it is on the south bank of the Mor River, but the ruins of the great Tienchou port of Kaihua on the north bank has been mostly built over in recent decades, with worries of curses and spiteful ghosts fading in the face of a growing population eager for land. The Gullstien Trading House holds a tenuous majority stake in most shipping and commerce in the city, but their reliance on Noble charters and frankly, legal dealings, has exposed them to serious predation by lesser families and even the great Camerrata's. Their counting house in the docks district is a large, dignified building surrounded by arcades and markets. The Schola Arcanum ov Vesland has its campus in the White Temple, an ancient Tienchou monestery that once overlooked Kaihua from a bluff on the westernmost edge of the city. Its great white walls and alabaster towers are visible from everywhere in the city. The Mootsheim is a great hall that hosts the High king's administration as well as the local King of Magnar's landing and its environs, Heasbruk Karlsoddr. The High King's seat has been empty for about 8 years as Moots have failed to reach consensus, causing significant political turmoil. The Temple of the Martyrs serves as home to any visiting Templars and petitioners from the 8 Martyred Saints' Monasteries scattered throughout Vesland. Climate Magnar's Landing enjoys a humid subtropical climate. It has mild winters and warm summers, the temperature never getting too extreme because of the sea’s proximity and influence on the climate. It experiences a dry season in the winter and a rainy season in the summer. Population Magnar's Landing is a diverse city, with residents from at least a dozen species and cultures. Demographics * Solandian: 35% * Tianchou’Ren: 20% * Menneskan: 9% * Dwarven: 14% * Orc-kin: 8% * Sha’Shuin: 4% * Half-elven: 3% * Elven: 1% * Other human ethnicities: 6% (Includes Nephtharine, Kem, Barhaimin and Einar's people) For more information, see the page Peoples of Vesland. Population density The metropolitan area of Magnar’s Landing incorporates about 20 square miles and about 80,000 people, granting a population density of approximately 4,000 people per square mile. (To offer some real-world comparisons, New York City had a population density of around 10,000 people per square mile during the first two decades of the 19th century. Duluth, MN currently has a population density of 1,200 people per square mile, and Bloomington is around 2,300.) 4,000 people per square mile is a moderate density. You’d certainly find people more closely packed together in the port cities on the old continent, but Veslanders have more space to work with. To support its current population density, the residential and commercial sectors of Magnar’s Landing are almost entirely composed of multi-story buildings scrunched together, each within a pace or two of its neighbors’ walls. Political Powers Power in Magnar's Landing is shared between multiple groups, the foremost of which include the King, the freelander nobility, the merchant families, and the Schola Arcanum. (These are not listed in order of influence.) * Seven Kings lord over the countryside of Vesland. By law and right, all lands in Vesland are property of the Seven Kings but in reality only the northeastern third of the peninsula could be said to be under any sort of Solandian control, King or otherwise. One of the seven kings holds sway over Magnar’s Landing, though the King's authority is won or lost more through their dealings with the Merchant Princes and the Schola Arcanum. * The Freelander Nobles, unlanded sons and daughters of one of the noble houses who leave their parent’s court to stake their claim on the vast Veslanden hinterland. They finance their ventures in many ways, through the coffers of their lord, loans from the Merchant Princes or, if they desperate, a grant from the Schola Arcanum. Many Freelander Nobles place the seat of their power in old Tianchou ruins and along abandoned Tianchou roads. * The wealth and power of the Merchant Princes grants them respect that their low birth could not and they are the de facto rulers of both Magnar’s Landing and Jadesport. While there are many powerful families the most prestigious and feared are the notoriously violent Camerrattas of Jadesport and and the Gullstien of Magnar’s Landing. * Noble families who can afford the exorbitant tuition send their sons and daughters here to be educated at the Academy of the Schola Arcanum by the finest minds west of the Drager Sea. A unique institution in Vesland in that it holds complete sovereignty over all of its actions and properties. It maintains its independence through its near monopoly on arcane power and lore as well as sending its junior arcanists out into Vesland to serve as advisors, emissaries, explorers and at times, soldiers. This independence allows the wizards of the Schola Arcanum to pursue their research without any bothersome oversight or pretense at ethics. Districts and Descriptions History Magnar’s Landing runs about 5 miles inland from the coast, and is about 4 miles North to South, including those parts of Kaihua that have been annexed into the new city. As the area was first being settled by Solandian immigrants, planning for the early city was managed mainly by the Church, as the Jarls were too busy conquering new regions to worry much about sorting through ones they’d already seized. As the first few decades passed and the Solandian hold on Vesland solidified, however, the regional Jarl assumed management of Magnar’s Landing—with significant input from local nobles and merchant families, of course. It’s an arrangement that continues today, but the Church’s early involvement left a lasting influence on certain parts of the city, especially in how streets are named. Street System Avenues follow a base-8 numeric system. The lowest numbers are along the coast, in the Docks district—1st Avenue, 2nd Avenue, etc. But after 8th Avenue comes 11th Avenue, 12th Avenue and so on, up to 18th Avenue, which is then followed by 21st Avenue. Since the blocks of Magnar’s Landing aren’t of a standard size, the bizarre nomenclature doesn’t cause any confusion. Streets are lettered for most of the city: A Street, B Street, etc. Some streets closer to the Mor River are named directly after the Martyred Eight. A few streets and avenues defy what naming conventions do exist. The most noteworthy of these are the roads that lead into the city from the surrounding area. * Lower Dock Road runs E-W past the Mootsheim and the Gullstien Counting House, right up to the sprawling Lower Docks. * Old Town Road runs N-S. A southern offshoot of the road leads to White Temple.The northern section of the road crosses the Great Bridge onto the Wedge, weaving through Old Town Circle before jogging north to the ruins of Kaihua. * Saints’ Road leads westward out of the city, merging with Lower Dock Road at the end of the Riverside district. It used to be known as Temple Road because it led straight to the Temple of the Martyrs, but then the Schola Arcanum built White Temple and the associated “White Temple Road,” usurping the name. Rather than confuse travelers or fight the Arcanum over the issue, the Church changed the name of “their” road. Most street signs near the church have been replaced, but a few further out bear scratch marks where “Temple” has been crossed out and “SAINTS” written above. List of Districts in Magnar's Landing * Upper Docks (see entry on the Wedge) * Lower Docks * Grand Market * The Wedge * King's District * Southbank Wharf * The Great Bridge * Riverside * The Whirl * Otter Beach